If God hates abortion, why does He allow miscarriages?

Answer

Miscarriages are sometimes permitted by God for His own purposes. There is a crucial distinction between a naturally occurring miscarriage and the intentional termination of a human life through abortion. While pregnancy loss is referred to in the medical field as a “spontaneous abortion,” it is unrelated to induced abortion or abortion-on-demand. One is unplanned (from the human perspective), while the other is deliberate. One is based on God’s authority over life and death, whereas the other is a human seizing of divine authority.

An ectopic pregnancy is a common type of miscarriage. It happens when a fertilized egg implants in a location other than the uterus. These pregnancies cannot progress normally. Despite the egg being fertilized and the embryo developing to a certain extent, it cannot fully mature, except in exceptional cases. The fertilized egg typically implants in a Fallopian tube, an ovary, or the cervix. None of these sites are meant to sustain a developing life, leading to the pregnancy ending in miscarriage or, in some instances, requiring surgical intervention to safeguard the mother’s health.

The removal of an ectopic pregnancy, even through medical means, differs from abortion. Abortion terminates the life of a developing baby who could potentially survive outside the womb. If undisturbed, an unborn child in the womb continues to grow and develop. Abortion prematurely ends that life. In the case of an ectopic pregnancy, however, the fertilized egg is unlikely to progress to a stage where the baby could survive outside the mother. The embryo typically perishes on its own. The remnants are either naturally expelled or extracted by a physician. In certain situations, the growth of an ectopic pregnancy leads to severe bleeding, pain, or life-threatening circumstances necessitating the surgical removal of the embryo.

In this fallen, sin-dominatedIn a fallen world, God has allowed many things He does not like. Miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, and birth defects are among them. Wars, natural disasters, illness, death, crime, and all other manifestations of sin are allowed to remain for a time. They are all part of sin’s curse on this fallen world. While God does control everything, He still allows what He hates to accomplish what He desires (see Isaiah 46:9-11).

Jesus gave us a glimpse into the mind of God when He responded to a question about a man born blind. Asked whose sin caused the man to be born sightless, Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). In that instance, the “works of God” resulted in a miraculous healing whereby many believed in Christ. God allows other difficult situations as well in order to bring about a greater good (Proverbs 19:21). Since God is the creator of all life, He alone can take that developing life without being a murderer. When human beings interrupt God’s creative work through abortion, we usurp a power that belongs only to the Creator (Psalm 139:13-16).

Only God can bring eternal good from situations that are not good (Romans 8:28). We don’t have the power.

Remember that we did not initiate that tiny heart beating, form the blood flowing through the fetus’s veins, or predetermine the days of a child’s life as God has. Therefore, when individuals cause an abortion, they are eliminating God’s creative work without His consent. Nevertheless, when God decides, through miscarriage, to end a child’s life prematurely, He has the authority to do so. It is His child, His creation, His masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10;Mark 10:14).